I'm a vegan, a long time reader, and a slow but determined runner. I'm a PhD and math professor with a great family and a pack of dogs. Follow me on Facebook at http://facebook.com/zuzubeat or Twitter and Instagram @zuzubeat

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Let me first say, that as a vegan here are the things I love most about a menu:
1) Clearly labeled VEGAN options. This restaurant has clear markings as to which things were Vegan, and which items were Gluten Free.
2) A Veg/Vegan section of a menu.
3) A statement, like the above "We can make any pizza Gluten Free or Vegan. Just ask." Cool.

Pizza Fusion is a small pizza restaurant in downtown Denver that not only is veg-friendly, but also practices good economic ideals, has sustainability practices, and is a rehabilitation and training center for the city's homeless population. And if you haven't been to Denver lately, I'll let you know that their homeless population is on the rise.

We were greeted right away upon entering, and the staff was clean and polite. The restaurant, while small, was tidy and inviting, and they were accommodating to our large party and requests.

Mia and I went halvsies here. She decided to veganize the BBQ chicken pizza, which came with gardein chickn and daiya vegan cheese. I went with the spinach and artichoke pizza, also with they daiya, but made my crust whole grain. A personal pizza came with four slices (as shown) and was plenty of food for a filling lunch.

Mia and I also got a vegan brownie to take back to the hotel for later, which was quite moist and sweet.
Everyone enjoyed their pizza, and I would return to this restaurant.

Yeah, we go there whenever we are in town. What can I say? Once you've had one of their savory vegan waffles I DARE you not to dream about them. It's that good.

Anyway, we flew into Denver last Wednesday, and immediately headed over for lunch. We started off for some seitan wings- half BBQ, half buffalo. Yum. I've had my share of vegan seitan wings, and theirs are the best.

Mia got the savory waffle, because that is what she gets every time. Sometimes she talks about getting something different... but she always comes back to the savory waffle. She loves it, and I think, it loves her in return.

I went with the WOW- the vegan waffle of the week, which was a savory nacho black bean waffle. Huh. How can you not order that? It was really good. the only downfall was that I went halvsies with Rob, and when I split up the waffle, I took the vegan spicy aioli off the plate, and FORGOT about it. And it was good, too.

Rob ordered my favorite brunch item, vegan tofu biscuits and gravy. I am such a sucker for biscuits and gravy. My folks used to make (non-veg) biscuits and gravy as a quick meal when I was growing up, and I always feel so comforted by the idea of it. It was the first recipe I ever figured out how to make vegetarian, and then totally veganized all by my onsie. Nowadays my gravy is all speckled with veggies, carrots and celery and mushrooms and dill. And my biscuits are full of flax, but the idea is the same!

Jeff's meal was accidentally vegan, so I had to test his out, too. He got a peanut butter waffle with grapefruit jam that was topped with potato chips! A grown up version of a melted PB&J!

Speaking of which, while we were in Copper, at one of the cafes on the mountain, they had a grilled PB&J station, and people LOVED it. My mom and I were shocked with how much people were raving about it. My mom used to make me grilled PB&J sandwiches all the time growing up, and her mom used to do the same for her, but these folks on the ski slopes had never heard of it, and though my mom should be cashing in on some royalties! Did you ever eat that stuff as a kid? I always loved the Peanut Butter when it got warm, and kind of oozed off the bread....

Rob is going vegan for January! Hooray! He took the pledge at Veganuary.com! There's still time if you want to do it, too! www.veganuary.com

And if 31 days seems like too long to commit, PCRM is hosting a 21 day vegan challenge starting on January 1 that you can sign up for here at: http://www.pcrm.org/kickstartHome/

I'm very excited, because not only is it a healthy lifestyle, but I know it is a choice that makes me happier every time I sit down to eat, and I'm super happy to share that with my love.

January first also brings to a close my Runner's World Run Streak! When I do my Resolution Run on the first, that will mark 39 days in a row that I've run (or skied, because I counted that). This year, even though it's the third year that I've participated, is the first year I've completed the challenge! And I feel pretty awesome about it. I am even thinking about gifting myself a streak for my 40th birthday this upcoming March. I don't know if I'll do 40 days of running, or maybe even try to go longer!!! It's an exciting thought.

Now that I have my tablet back, I'll also be getting back into more yoga. I've been slacking on the yoga without my tablet, as generally I use my apps during practice. It's an exciting time.

This week is a short blog week for me- as I'll be traveling AGAIN! I'm headed out west (solo this time) for my niece's baptism. My Aunt Penny teased me the other night that I was MAKING Rob be vegan for January, and the LEAVING him alone with it right away!

He'll be okay. This isn't his first time going vegan for a month.

But just in case he's flummoxed while I'm gone... And in case anyone else is wondering what vegan items would be easy to fix, taste good, and be healthy and relatively cheap? This list is for you....

Saturday, December 27, 2014

December, you know what that means! We went out west and met my family for our annual ski trip in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. My parents are so awesome to host all of us kids (and our ever-growing families) each year. It is the coolest. Even if we do have to wake up at 2 am to get to the airport in time...

This year, we were again in Copper mountain, which you may know, is the name sake of our dog, Copper. Yep, we love it here so much we named our dog after this mountain. Can you blame us?

Copper Mountain is about an hour and a half west of Denver (in optimal weather/driving conditions!). This was our fourth year here (non-consecutively) and second year in the same house.

I'm convinced that there is more sky in Colorado than there is in other places.

I didn't get too many pictures, but when I remember to take out my phone camera, my niece, Niki, and I had some selfie-fun.

Mom actually got a picture of us on the slopes. This was day 4, just before the storm came in and dropped 29 inches of fresh powder on us! It wasn't too cold, but boy, was the wind blowing, and fresh powder is TOUGH to ski in! I definitely counted those ski days as my run streak days. I got a great work out on the slopes.

I also got some quality time with the baby, my niece and god-daughter, Kateri Rose. She was now 4 weeks old, so she even smiled at me a few times as I held her!

Traveling back home, we were in the midst of that same storm, so we did some frantic plane shuffling, and made it to our plane transfer in Dallas with about 30 seconds to spare. Eventually we landed in DC, and had to take a shuttle to BWI, where our car was parked, but it was all okay, because in the end we arrived home safely!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

More on that later. Anyway, here's my plan for the remainder for the week:

Thursday
Run
Christmas dinner with out of town family

Friday
Run
Hannukah dinner with Rob, Mia & Ryan
We celebrate EVERYTHING in our house. Because of all of the food. Hannukah came and went while we were out of town, but we can't let a December go by without Latkes, applesauce, Manischewitz wine, and the like!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

So, I'm still without my tablet (although Samsung currently HAS it, and I should have it back SOON), but honestly, without it, I'm feeling rather meh about blogging.

I mean, I had PLANS. I was going to do a Vegan Holiday Roast Cookoff, where I compared the Gardein & Tofurky roasts. But, I just don't have the umph to do it the old fashioned way.

And, as one of my tutoring students says, my cell phone is from 1980, so it takes really crappy pictures.

So.

I thought I'd break from the norm this week, and maybe point you in the direction of some other blogs that maybe aren't having technical difficulties. Maybe they're feeling just a bit more festive, and celebrate whatever you celebrate.

http://thesimpleveganista.blogspot.com/ Oh, man she posted a recipe lately for a chana dal chowder that also used a sweet potato, that I may have to try. I love my recipe, but I also love sweet potato!

http://ohsheglows.com with her cookbook out this year, she's really coming into her own. Great, great stuff.

http://www.veganuary.com/ And if you were looking for any reasons to go vegan in January, or needed your excuses not to do so kicked out, check this out. Mia, Rob, I'll get you a bracelet if you take the pledge.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday. As some of you know, my tablet is shot. The charger area is not taking a charge. I've had it less than a year, so it's still under warranty, but I've really been running in circles with the Samsung folks trying to get it in for repair. I filled out a repair ticket, and then they sent me some cryptic email and closed my ticket. Now I've got a second request in, and I've been promised that the repair work will only take 4 days, but they have to START first!!!

Grrrr.

Anyway. So. Late blog post. No pictures.

Sorry.

This is week 3 of the #rwrunstreak Runner's World Run Streak. I've now been running every day for 14 days in a row. It's good stuff. Week 2 was much easier than week 1. And Rob and I ran the Christmas Town 8k dash, which was much fun.

Since my tablet's broken, I used the old iPad a few times this last week. It's such a dinosaur, but it does have the Sarah Kramer Go Vegan app on it, which I've pulled a few recipes from for this week.

Monday:
Run
Sweet Potato, Kale & Mushroom Gravy

Tuesday
Run
Swim
Choir Concert in Prince Frederick

Wednesday
Run
GV Baked Chili with Corn Bread topping

Thursday
Run
Swim
GV Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos

Friday
Run
Dinner TBD

Saturday
Run
GV Home Style Green Pea Soup

Sunday
Run
Dinner TBD

Anyway, that's all on the running and eating front. Yoga still everyday. But no pictures. #brokentablet.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

When my family invited me out to Omaha, I asked them if we could go to Isa Moskowitz's restaurant, Modern Love. Modern Love just opened up earlier this year, and I've been a long-time fan of Isa's.

my fam is awesome about going and trying out vegan restaurants, and the staff at Modern Love was great about working with me to set up a table got our large party of 10 adults, 2 children, and a newborn baby!

We started with drinks, some teas and ginger sodas. The kids loved the orange and clove hot cocoa. They make their own tea bags in house.

For an appetizer, we ordered latkes served with a coconut sour cream and apple raisin compote with eggplant bacon.

(We actually ordered two plates of these, and we devoured them so quickly, we had to order a third so I could get a picture!) These were my Aunt Penny's favorite.

When reading the menu, I stopped immediately when I saw this item, and I knew this is what I needed to order. Lentil chili with butternut squash served with coconut sour cream and a cinnamon roll. Apparently this is a midwest traditional pairing, and wow, delicious. I actually chopped up my roll and ate it with the chilli, which was spicy and very delicious.

Mia ordered the Bimbibap, tempeh served over kimchi with brussels sprouts!

Another popular dish with the family was the seitan schnitzel! Most everyone agreed that they preferred seitan over a traditional pork schnitzel. It was served over a bed of delicious mashed potatoes with roasted broccoli. My dad said this was the best vegan food he'd ever eaten!

Rachel ordered a black bean tamale that was listed as an appetizer. It was savory and the jalapeno guacamole had a smoky flavor. She really enjoyed it, and said that this smaller dish was the perfect size plate!

My mom and Aunt Penny ordered the soup of the day, a roasted cauliflower. It had a very creamy flavor and texture. The cauliflower on top was nice and crunchy.

The kids ordered the Mac & Shews. This is served on the traditional menu with tofu, kale, and sprouts.

Ryan has chocolate on his face from the hot cocoa, but he wanted to be in the picture with his dinner!

For dessert, we ordered four different pies to share. I forgot to take pictures of them until we'd pretty much demolished them. Here's a picture of a bite of each....